Once upon a time four weeks ago, me, my team leader, ministry host, and two squad mates met some pretty amazing people.
They were high schoolers from Craiova, Romania who were waiting for their friend to be done with school.
“Do any of you speak English?”
“Yes!” They all said
We talked with them for about an hour; learning what they enjoyed, what kind of music they like, tv shows, and what life is like in Craiova. We found that one was learning guitar, and Spanish, and my TL (team leader) Cami, knew both those things (we also found out they never had tacos before. What!). We agreed to meet up again and bring our favorite things.
We met up again with ukulele’s and guitars in hand. One friend brought us some delicious Romanian candy. We just hung out, played some music, danced around, and played hot seat (or hot chair) a game where you gave 30 seconds to ask as many questions as you can. Our relationship with this group grew and grew.
We met up a couple more times, just talking about our life, walking throughout Craiova, and diving deeper into friendship. Throughout this we got to meet more and more of their wonderful friend group. Another group actually met more of their friend group on the same day we did, just in a different place!
One thing we did together was have a picnic. We brought our little bowl of guacamole and salsa, and they made the most extravagant picnic I’ve ever seen! They all made amazing traditional Romanian food, desserts, and drinks. They honored us so so well. They showed so much love and honor for us: sharing their traditional foods, opening up their hearts to us loud Americans, and giving us a place to be comfortable and develop real friendships.
The other night we had our last event with them. Our group made them tacos, to the best of our ability with Romanian grocery stores, and salsa. We played mafia, charades, and has the most fun. Then we started this project our host found called Alpha. A series of videos asking about the deeper life questions. What’s our purpose? If you could ask God one thing, what would you ask?
This lead to some really really amazing conversation. Asking and answering things we as a people don’t really talk about. Diving into the semi uncomfortable to learn and grow.
Wednesday we leave for month one debrief. From there, about a week, our squad is splitting up. Half is staying in Craiova, and half is going to another city called Dragunesti-Olt. My team, Anthem, and the guys team, Xanadu, will be going to the new city.
This meant that we had to say goodbye to our dear friends. This was hard. We had learned so much about each other, shared laughs and food, making real friendships. Some of us cried (me lol) on the cold windy sidewalk, and gave out all the hugs we could. I miss them already.
To this amazing group, I treasured my time with you. Without knowing it, you grew my hope so much. You gave me a hope and joy, and without meaning to, showed so much of God’s good grace and mercy. You were always patient, always loving, always kind, upbuilding, encouraging, and ready for a good laugh. Thank you, dear friends, for everything you have done for us! Miss you already.
– Jenay
Worship song: Across the Universe by Mosaic MSC
Verse: “For if you choose self-sacrifice, giving up your lives for my glory, you will embark on a discovery of more and more of true life. But if you choose to keep your lives for yourselves, you will lose what you try to keep.” – Luke 9:24 (The Passion Translation)
